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Re: Equipment maintenance?

Subject: Re: Equipment maintenance?
From: Tim Nielsen <>
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 07:42:26 -0700
To clean the XLR jacks, I usually use alcohol on a Q-tip. Then I use=20
a product called Pro-Gold, which is a fantastic cleaner. You can get=20
a small kit from www.sonicstudios.com, I think it costs about $25,=20
comes with a small bottle of the cleaner, protectant, some small=20
brushes for getting inside the female XLR jacks, and some cleaning=20
cloth. The Pro-Gold supposedly puts a small layer of itself over the=20
XLR jacks, and will help prevent oxidation in the future. It's also a=20
cleaner, and it works really well.

I always disconnect any cable that might be bent. But cables can be=20
fairly cheap in the big picture, so if you want to keep them all=20
connected, if I was you, I'd carry a spare or two of the ones you=20
think could get damaged from all the bending. Then you can leave it=20
all hooked up, and in CASE something goes wrong, you have spares. I=20
always carry in the car spares for all my various cables.

I wouldn't worry too much about leaving cables disconnected unless=20
you're in extreme environments, and they're out in the air. But I do=20
clean the cables fairly regularly.

You could also consider right angle connectors as a way of maybe=20
keeping some of the cables from getting bent. On my DAT rig, I built=20
all right angle connecters of the back of the Lunatec, so that I=20
could set DAT rig down on it's back end, and it would sit upright.=20
Worked great.

On my 722 rig, I built a small 'break-out' cable that goes from the=20
two XLR jacks, to a 5-pin XLR. It's only about 3 inches long, just=20
enough that it gets out beyond the portabrace case, and I can leave=20
that cable always connected. It's easy to connect my other cable to=20
that one, I don't have to open up the case each time, but when=20
disconnected, the little break-out cable isn't in the way.

Good luck.

Tim

On Oct 10, 2005, at 2:12 AM, esandhaus wrote:

> Hi all:
>
> I apologize if this has been covered before...I wasn't having a lot of
> luck with the search terms I was using!
>
> 1. How do you dust/clean your XLR connectors, etc. (what do you use,
> how often do you do it)?
>
> 2. To prevent excessive cable wear (from bending), do you completely
> disconnect your mic cables when you put your equipment (mic, recorder)
> in a bag/case to go out trekking in the field? I have an equipment
> case that I can easily put all of my connected gear in (without tight
> bends), but I have found that it is a lot easier for me to tote
> everything around in a smaller bag. The only drawback with that is
> that either a) my cables will be bent at what looks like a pretty
> tight angle if I don't disconnect them or b) I have to take the time
> to reconnect everything if I unexpectedly happen upon something
> interesting. Also, if I disconnect everything, am I unnecessarily
> exposing the connectors to dust/humidity/etc?
>
> Thanks =3D)
>
> Estelle
>
>
>
>
>
> "Microphones are not ears,
> Loudspeakers are not birds,
> A listening room is not nature."
> Klas Strandberg
>
>
>
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